Friday, 22 January 2010

More first floor antics

Yesterday I finished of the first run of solives and blow me if it isn't lovely and level. This now gives me a level to work across to the wall and install one of the carrier beams to support the floor between the chimney and the front wall. As usual this is never straight forward and low a behold on one side where I needed to make a socket for the beam there was the end of an old beam and on the other two great big stones in the side of the chimney breast! Ho-hum! Anyway my good friend Alan will be pleased to know that the reciprocating saw he lent me about 10 years ago was just the tool for cutting out the end of the Oak beam. in fact without it I'm not sure how I would have cut the socket! So a big thanks to Alan. The other side was just a case of cutting through the stones with the angle grinder and smashing a hole big enough. Built up the holes to just below the right height and lined with slate so i can shim with more slate to level up the beam in place. As for the beam I'm using 200 x 100 green oak and just for good measure I've hand cut a bevel into the bottom edge. I always think that its those little touches that make the difference!

If you look through the socket for the beam the wall is black on the other side. That's because its the inside of the chimney! Well it'll give me plenty of room to slide the new beam in and i can leave the ends of the beam nice and long.

So if the mortar ever goes off in this cold weather I can install the beam. While I had a bit of mortar mixed I thought I would tidy up round the bit a wall between ground floor and first floor window. Closer inspection however showed that the supporting Oak lintel needs replacing, so i'll have to take that bit a wall down and rebuild it. Bummer! Oh well probably only take me half an hour.

EXPLANATION: Any job you have to do always feels easier if you tell yourself it will only take "half an hour" even if you blatently know it won't!!!!

ALTERNATIVE: Tell yourself "How hard can it be!"

For Alison, Cool tool of the day is: Stihl MS260 50cc TronçonneuseNice!

spycam

About Me

I'm a computer programmer by trade and my Blogg charts the trials and tribulations of my ambitious renovation project in Normandy France. What started as a family project I continue as a single parent dad with time split between working in the UK and then looking after my two daughters and finishing the renovations I started in France...with care and with love.